Published Research Topics

The research topics presented here cover more than four decades of investigations in the fields of archaeology, geoarchaeology, and environmental sciences. Some of the research questions addressed concern topics that have so far been insufficiently investigated or systematically excluded. This approach is based on the conviction that scientific progress in archaeology depends on the continuous critical review of established explanatory models and their adaptation to new findings.

A | Worldviews and interpretation
B | Cultures and power centers
C | Landscapes and habitats
D | Environment and methods
E | Society and communication

B | Cultures and power centers

Societies, networks, and political spaces of the Bronze Age

Luwian culture | Publications
During the Bronze Age, Western Anatolia was not a cultural backwater, but rather the center of an independent, diverse culture. This Luwian culture encompassed hundreds of settlements, dominated raw material production and trade, and developed its own writing and power structures.

Early script systems | Publications
Long before the Greek alphabet, complex writing systems emerged in Western Asia Minor, Crete, and Cyprus, which were used to organize rule, administer territories, and make cultural affiliation visible.

Sea Peoples | Publications
The so-called Sea Peoples were part of a far-reaching conflict over trade routes, resources, and political supremacy that fundamentally changed the power structure of the eastern Mediterranean region around 1200 BCE.

James Mellaart | Publications
James Mellaart shaped the image of Anatolian prehistory like no one else – and at the same time damaged it permanently: groundbreaking discoveries were accompanied by fabricated texts and drawings, the discovery of which raised fundamental questions about scientific integrity.

C | Landscapes and habitats

Places as processes: environment, settlement, and use in transition

Dimini | Publications
The rise and fall of Dimini Magoula during the Neolithic followed the rhythm of a changing coastal landscape: as sea levels, sedimentation, and soil erosion gradually filled in the bay of Volos, the economic and social center shifted step by step seaward.

Argolid | Publications
The landscape of the Argolid shaped the history of its settlements more than previously assumed: changes in coastlines, soils, and watercourses determined where towns such as Mycenae, Tiryns, and Asine could emerge, grow, or disappear again.

Lerna | Publications
Behind the myth of the Lernaean Hydra lay a real landscape: for thousands of years, a large freshwater lake shaped the settlement of Lerna, promoting agriculture and trade – but also making the region vulnerable to disease and ecological crises.

Mycenae | Publications
Mycenae’s rise can be explained by its control of the surrounding area: agricultural resources, road networks, and natural bottlenecks made the citadel a hub of regional power.

Tiryns | Publications
The Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns was a dynamic center of power in a rapidly changing landscape: coastal shifts, floods, and targeted hydraulic engineering projects determined its location and expansion.

Berbati | Publications
The Berbati Valley was a finely balanced economic and settlement structure: geology, soils, and transport routes determined where agriculture, livestock farming, and control of passes were possible for thousands of years.

Asine | Publications
Asine was an island in prehistoric times: sea level fluctuations, lagoon formation, and massive sedimentation determined when the site could be used as a harbor, retreat, or fortified base.

Pylos | Publications
Where lagoons and fields lie today, Mycenaean engineers once controlled water, ships, and sediments: the reconstruction of the landscape shows that the Palace of Nestor possessed an artificially created harbor and clean-water flushing system that was far ahead of its time.

Boeotia | Publications
Over thousands of years, Boeotia proved to be a sensitive border area between mountains and plains: settlements arose where soil, water, and transport routes offered stability – and disappeared as soon as ecological or political conditions changed.

Gournia | Publications
Gournia on Crete was located in the center of a finely networked coastal area: the sheltered Mirabello Bay connected the settlement, port, and hinterland into a hub that interlinked trade, agriculture, and maritime contacts for thousands of years.

Troy | Publications
Anyone who thinks of Troy as just a fortified citadel overlooks its real achievement: the floodplain in front of the citadel was most likely home to a complex system of hydraulic engineering, port facilities, and towpaths that enabled ships to pass through one of the most dangerous straits in ancient seafaring.

Cyprus | Publications
In Cyprus, the environment, resources, and transport routes converged to form an exceptionally dynamic settlement area: mining and maritime contacts determined when sub-regions rose, shifted, or lost their importance again.

Tunisia | Publications
What appears today as a dry peripheral zone was in Roman times a highly productive area: in northern Tunisia, phases of intensive use alternated with periods of ecological overload, causing settlement networks to constantly reorganize themselves.

Egypt | Publications
Between the Nile and the desert, a fragile cultural landscape developed in which predynastic settlements had to cope with environmental changes, resource scarcity, and long-distance contacts – experiences that later gave rise to Egypt’s state structures.

D | Environment and methods

Natural processes and tools for reconstructing them

Soil Erosion | Publications
At the end of the Ice Age, Greece’s soils were more stable than ever before; their massive destruction only began with human intervention: deforestation, agriculture, and overuse triggered erosion processes whose consequences continue to shape the landscape to this day.

Earthquakes | Publications
Earthquakes in early history forced entire regions in the Mediterranean to undergo fundamental reorganization. They altered watercourses and led to flooding, which permanently shifted coastlines.

Natural disasters | Publications
Natural disasters were long considered the main cause of the collapse of Bronze Age societies. However, a systematic reassessment shows that neither earthquakes, volcanic eruptions nor climate fluctuations explain the profound political and cultural upheavals around 1200 BCE – they had a local and short-term impact, not one that destroyed entire cultures.

Sea level fluctuations | Publications
Sea levels and thus coastlines follow a rhythmic pattern of rise and fall: drillings and geophysical profiles show that even slight sea level fluctuations rearranged entire landscapes and repeatedly created ecological and economic zones.

Coastline changes | Publications
Numerous ancient port cities are now located far inland because coastlines have continuously changed: sediment input, river deltas, and coastal uplift have altered the interface between land and sea over generations.

Geoarchaeology | Publications
Geological processes shape human history: by analysing sediments, soils, landforms, and stratigraphy, geoarchaeology reconstructs ancient landscapes and their transformation through natural forces and human activity. This approach reveals how settlements, harbours, water systems, and entire cultural regions developed within – and responded to – their environmental setting.

Micropaleontology | Publications
Tiny fossil organisms provide clues to past landscapes: the analysis of microscopic shells from drill samples makes it possible to reconstruct vanished lakes, swamps, and coastlines.

Remote sensing | Publications
Satellite images and aerial photographs reveal what remains hidden in the ground: former coastlines, silted-up harbors, and sunken settlement structures can be reconstructed from a distance, fundamentally changing the image of ancient landscapes.

Marine sedimentology | Publications
The ocean floor stores an almost complete archive of earth’s history: layer by layer, sediments record climate change, natural events, and human intervention over tens of thousands of years.

E | Society and communication

How societies develop and archaeological knowledge becomes visible

Exhibition design | Publications
Archaeology does not end in the repository or in a journal article: innovative exhibition technology allows past worlds to be staged in such a way that visitors can recognize connections instead of viewing isolated objects – and understand history as a process.

History of technology | Publications
Technical progress arises above all where people, knowledge, and specialized craftsmanship come together: early urban centers in prehistoric China acted as catalysts in which different technologies cross-fertilized each other and produced new solutions – from hydraulic engineering and metallurgy to writing and administration.

Social anthropology | Publications
The digital society is considered an achievement of democratic progress – in reality, however, it reinforces existing power structures. Issues and debates are triggered and controlled with large sums of money, while broad social concerns remain systematically invisible.